Think it might have been in spite of those associated with the club rather than because of those associated with the club.

Which league manager would leave his top scorer on the bench for such periods of time?
Amond was on he bench for 61 minutes, he was on the pitch for less than 10 before scoring and then becoming the catalyst for almost everything going forward. How he and Rooney cannot get in a front three with Thomas is beyond me. What's further beyond me is how poor Oates is and still gets game time. The kid looked as though he was running through treacle, apt for a shrove Tuesday. The only thing he possesses is pace and he lacked that for most of the night.

Everything was breaking down with him in the first half and only Jones knows how he got to come out for the second half. He thought he was getting hooked on 61 minutes, and so did a lot of people, however when he didn't he must have thought 'i'm going to have to up my workrate here', because that's what he did. Still not brilliant and would have preferred to see Rooney, Amond and Thomas up there, we might have chipped away further at our goal difference who knows.

Once we got the second they were reminiscent of pools in recent times, they crumbled and fell to pieces. Really poor team and they will be lucky if they are three worse teams than them come May.

It was a great win and a clean sheet to boot, but we needed it...and more.

Onwards and upwards, Exeter will be different gravy and that will be the yard stick.

Can't agree with Billy's assessment of Oates' contribution to last night's game, agreed he struggled early on but so did everyone else in midfield and up front. Oates also can claim 2 possibly 3 assists for Pools goals on the night.
I accept he's not the best technically, but he does provide energy and a physical presence. Reminds me of Steve Fletcher when he was at Pools, before going on to be a legend at Bournemouth.

Exeter's away form is good, especially when compared to their home form, but I'm confident Pools will be up for the fight come 3 o'clock on Saturday.

The thing with Oates is that he puts himself out there and covers so much ground for the team. Yes it might be donkey work like chasing down defenders but we've seen earlier in the season that we don't have those types of players in the side.

Players like Woods and Allesandra at times look like great players but just as often let the game pass them by entirely.

Especially away from home I think Oates is the type of player you want in there. A worker who can help us grind out points.

"Exeter's away form is good, especially when compared to their home form, but I'm confident Pools will be up for the fight come 3 o'clock on Saturday."

I agree Pools will be well up for it but the problem is Exeter have proved themselves on away grounds consistently all season and may well be too good for us. If we give them chances like those we gave Crewe, I suspect they will take the lead and not give it up. I hope I am wrong.

Can't agree with Billy's assessment of Oates' contribution ........ Oates also can claim 2 possibly 3 assists for Pools goals on the night.

Tenuous? The first goal, the ball into the box was well behind the player and still needed two touches before hitting the onion bag, one from a defender. The second, Amond's, he still had to hook the ball over the defender then go against an out rushing keeper before scoring. Both goals, there was still plenty to do after Oates' 'assists'.

He even lost his one and only asset on Tuesday, pace. He was puffing like an old train, only player with his hands on his hips or bent over trying to catch a breath [and definitely not down to his 'bursts' of energy]

We all see things differently. In my opinion the player has very limited ability in this division and we have better players out on loan or on the bench. Putting him in before your leading scorer is not conducive to our league survival.

The game perfectly illustrated our season. The first half up until the goal was poor to say the least. The players were nervous or actually frightened. Once they got in front they played well and finished it off comfortably.

It seems like an issue of confidence more than anything. It's the coach's job to build confidence. Hopefully that win will build the confidence to win some more starting this weekend.

Football is all about opinions, mine differs from Billytwodogs in respect of Oates' contribution on Tuesday night, what really matters though is we beat Crewe and that result should help the team / squad gain some self belief.